Year: 2017

Sandwiches are bomb. You can put anything between two slices of bread and call it a sandwich, it’s amazing. I’m a Louisiana boy, so naturally my favorite kind is the Muffuletta.

The word “muffuletta” refers to the round sesame bread that makes the sandwich. Muffuletta bread originated in Sicily, but the sandwich has its home in good ol’ New Orleans. The sammy was invented in the famous institution Central Grocery in the French Quarter around 1906, but the bread has been around since the 1890s. Yep, the muffuletta is older than the Po’ Boy!

A crazy popular Cajun dish, etouffee has been around for at least 70 years. It’s traditionally made with crawfish, but I like mine with shrimp. The word etouffee is French, and literally means “suffocated,” as in, that shrimp got suffocated in a big vat of flavor. The dish is chock full of veggies in a tomato-based sauce and crawfish smothered in. It’s sort of like a seafood stew. The tomato sauce is a contended addition to the stew: it’s said that real Cajun etouffee doesn’t include the stuff, and that …

The New Orleans’ Po’ Boy: the superstar sandwich of the south. Not to be confused with a sub or a hoagie, no, no, the Po’ Boy comes with a crispy french bun, warm meat, and hot sauce. No cold-cut nonsense here.

The Po’ Boy originated in New Orleans in the 19th century. Whereas the sub was borne from Italian immigrants, Po’ Boys were found mostly in port cities. Traditionally made from fried oysters and shrimp, the sandwich started out as the “oyster loaf.”

The name Po’ Boy didn’t exist until late in the Roaring 20s in 1929 right before the …

You’ve read about it, talked about it, may have even eaten it, but what exactly is jambalaya?

At it’s core, jambalaya is a rice, meat, and vegetable dish most popular in the Southern United States, particularly in Louisiana. It’s delicious, versatile, and inexpensive, but jambalaya is so much more like a culture than a comfort dish. In Louisiana, each family has its own way of cooking jambalaya. The kind of meat, the kind of vegetables used vary from household to household, and each dish becomes a story rather than a recipe.

Will you be in the Texas area this weekend? Feast your eyes, Austin: the Texas Trucklandia Fest is coming. The annual food truck festival returns October 21, 2017, and Southern Roots is ready. Mobile foodpreneurs from all over will gather to this food truck mecca to fight for ultimate Texas-wide foodie domination and win the $10,000 prize. Join Jep’s Southern Roots as we dole out some wholesome, kick-ass southern food and eat our way to food truck glory one po’ boy at a time. Drop a comment if you’ll be in town!